Sensory Perception
by Caroline
Summary: Nathan/Mag - A lovelorn Nathan Wallace finds solace and companionship not in the object of his affection, but her best friend.


**TITLE: Sensory Perception  
PAIRING: Nathan/Mag  
SPOILERS: pre-cursor to "Repo! The Genetic Opera"; AU  
RATING: PG  
SUMMARY: A lovelorn Nathan Wallace finds solace and companionship not in the object of his affection, but her best friend.**

* * *

Nathan Wallace had never considered himself a jealous man; one that fawns over a woman already taken. But here he was, weeks into his new business relationship with Rotti Largo, founder and CEO of GeneCo, and he found himself incredibly jealous. Not of Rotti's status, no -- in his eyes, Nathan had much more to offer than Rotti, if one were to discount the endless amounts of wealth. It was the woman Rotti was seeing -- Marni -- that made Nathan incredibly envious of the organ-transplant tycoon.

He couldn't fathom how a businessman so cold and ruthless could capture the attention of a woman so kind and gentle... so beautiful. Marni's classic features and dark, magnetic eyes would be enough to reel in any man, so Nathan had to wonder - why Rotti? Marni hardly seemed the type to go after money and status, so that couldn't have been it. Perhaps Rotti portrayed something else around her that kept her under his spell. Nathan considered the "family man" angle, but he doubted Marni would be that enamored with Rotti's children from his previous marriage: Luigi, Pavi, and Amber. All three were little monsters; Luigi violent and hard to control, Pavi vain and vulgar, and Amber, a princess who Rotti would happily hand the entire company over to with enough stomping of her tiny feet.

What was it about Rotti that enchanted Marni so? Why not _him_?

"You look like you're lost in thought," came a smooth, crystalline voice from above him.

Nathan glanced up, into the unseeing eyes of Marni's best friend, Mag, and just barely smiled. "Funny."

"Oh, Nathan." Using her cane and hand to guide her, Mag took a seat on the bench where Nathan perched, elbows on his thighs and head lowered. "I wish you would cheer up. I don't want a depressed surgeon performing my operation next week, after all," she jested, leaning slightly to the side and giving his shoulder a nudge with hers.

"Not depressed," he sighed, sitting back and letting their shoulders brush. There was always something comforting about sitting with Mag; she didn't put him on edge as Marni did.

"Will you always be a man of so few words, Nate?" she teased good-naturedly.

"Yes." He glanced sidelong at her, smirking when she did.

Mag chuckled, reaching out and feeling for his face. "You had better be smiling. Don't make me tell another blind joke."

He rolled his eyes, forcing a smile once her fingers reached his lips, tracing them. "There. Smiling."

"Forcing."

"Touché." He slowly drew in a breath as her fingers withdrew from his lips, and he watched her small, graceful hand fall back to her lap, playing with the handle of her cane.

They sat in silence for a moment, Nathan staring at the ruins beyond the large picture window inside GeneCo's garden room; perhaps the one room left on earth where things were still green and growing. After what felt like hours, he heard Mag's voice again... tone sage, wise.

"Marni may not be as happy as she seems."

"How do you know?"

"I just know," she murmured, unseeing eyes staring straight ahead as if she, too, were observing the ruins right along with him. "Sensory perception, dear Nate."

At that, he gave a slight, but genuine smile, knowing that Mag was the only one he would allow to call him 'Nate.' His entire life he preferred 'Nathan,' but from her, the shortening of his name to its first syllable wasn't all that bad.

"Just as I know," she continued, "that you're deeply smitten with my best friend and heartbroken that she doesn't seem to notice you."

Nathan glanced down at the tile floor, once more leaning his elbows on his thighs and dipping his head. He almost startled at the feel of fingers in his hair, making their way toward his face. He couldn't help confiding in her, "I just can't understand what she sees in Rotti Largo."

"She just doesn't see the same thing you see," she told him, hand finding his cheek. "Or that I see."

When he glanced up at her, she smiled, ducking her head and removing her hand from his face to tuck dark tendrils behind her ear. "Perceive, rather." And she sighed. "We all see what we wish to see, in everyone. It always differs from person to person. What I see in... you, for example, may not be what Rotti sees or Marni sees."

"What do you see?" he asked suddenly.

"I see a man fishing for compliments," she teased.

"Mag."

"Alright." Sighing, her hand reached for his face again, finding his hair first.

Nathan closed his eyes, feeling her long, graceful fingers tickle through the strands before finding his cheek, turning his face toward her. Her fingertips fluttered over his cheekbones, gliding across the softness of his eyelashes and down his nose. They feather-kissed his jawline before finally ending up at his lips, tracing around them endlessly.

"I see someone who is very kind. Feels deeply and is loyal to a fault. I see a very handsome man who should be able to have any woman he wants, a man deserving to be loved in return."

"And what about Marni?" he asked breathlessly, searching those unseeing eyes, eyes he would in a week replace.

Mag tilted her chin to the downward diagonal, fingers sliding from his face as she murmured softly, almost sadly, "I can't tell you what Marni sees, Nate. I can only tell you what I see." After a moment, she seemed to have recovered from whatever mood had briefly overcome her, and she turned to him. "Do you realize that one week from today I'll be able to actually see you?"

"Yes," he smiled, hearing the excitement in her tone. "But Mag... are you sure about this? Rotti... may not be as generous as he appears to be."

"Are you sure that's not a little jealousy eeking out?"

"As objectively as possible, I am telling you: something about him is off."

"Okay," she brushed him off lightly. "Just... make sure that when I see you for the first time," her hand found his face immediately, thumb on one side of his chin and fingers on the other, smushing his cheeks together, "at least promise me I don't have to see this oh-woe-is-me look on your face, hmm?" She quirked a brow.

Nathan chuckled in spite of himself. "I promise."

"And Nate..."

"Hmm?"

"Promise me something else."

"Anything," was his response without thinking, and he reached up to touch her wrist, inciting her to loosen her grip on his face. It slid to one cheek and he gave the underside of her wrist a friendly stroke with his thumb.

"Promise me that you'll be the first face I see when I open my eyes next week."

"I promise." Shrugging one shoulder, he added, "I'll have to be the first face you see anyway, considering I'll be the one taking the bandages off."

"One more thing."

He chuckled. "What?"

Her thumb slid to his lips, stroking across them before putting pressure in the middle. "When I wake up... smile for me."

"I will."

"A real one," she demanded, her other hand pointing a finger in his direction. "No faking, or I'll know."

"You always know," he teased.

"Like I said - sensory perception," she sighed. "Nate, trust me. Even blind, I can see straight through you."

"You always have."

"And I always will."

After a moment, he smiled against her thumb. "I'll smile for you, Mag," he promised. "Genuinely."

"Thank you," she smiled back, leaning in to peck his cheek. She murmured against him, "Marni doesn't know what she's missing."

And then, it just seemed natural. Nathan tilted his head, brushing his lips against Mag's gently, gratitude his intent. What he didn't count on was her lips clinging; his feeling a spark and wanting to cling, too. So the kiss lingered, just beyond the point of being platonic, but not outwardly passionate. His lips moved over hers gently, softly, as his hand reached for the alabaster softness of her cheek, knuckles sweeping gently across it.

When their lips broke he leaned back and looked at her, eyes closed and lashes fluttering. "Um..." He struggled with himself, struggled to compute the new sensation he felt bubbling up inside him, and scooted away from her a bit as if distance would douse the sensations, the spark. "I should go."

"I understand."

And she did; her tone held no sadness or no regret. Just a kind understanding that instantly set his nerves at ease; a skill that was Mag's alone. "It's just that Rotti, and... and Marni, they uh... they'd like to go over some more of the details regarding your surgery."

"Shall I go with?"

"No. No need. It's more of the technical stuff, you don't need to worry about it." He was already backing for the door when she called to him again, this time using his full name to gain his attention.

"Nathan."

He spun to face her, seeing her toying with her cane once more. "Yes."

"Give Marni time," she advised. "One day she'll see you like I do."

Nathan paused in the doorway and just watched her a moment, taking the time to observe the calm that she emanated, that serenity she seemed to emanate everywhere, in any situation. Then, he walked slowly back over to her, the sound of his wing-tips echoing on the tile until he stopped in front of her. Bending down, he bestowed a soft kiss upon her forehead, murmuring, "Thank you, Mag," against her skin before he turned on his heel and left the garden room.

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FIN


End file.
